The power of giving without doing charity

“How does giving make me richer?” or “How can I give without any charity?” should be the questions running through your mind.

We have all heard or read about how most successful people give away a lot on charity. We also read stories about the billionaires having a habit of giving away a certain percentage of their income even before they made their money. It is said, “Give and you shall receive”.

While all this might be true, it is not giving money or charity or your belongings we will speak about.

The giving that is important for your success is giving in terms of value.

To understand the purpose behind the activity I recommend you to read through the article. But, for the busy bees, you can go directly to the exercise.

Givers Vs Takers

There are two categories of people, the givers, and the takers.

The Takers:

Takers are the people who are always looking to get something out of you.

The friends who call you only when they need something

The next door neighbor who only shows up when some grocery is missing

The strangers who message you on LinkedIn for a referral

The ones who post only their own content on Facebook for likes

That unknown friend on Facebook who invites you to like his/her page etc

You get the point.

The takers have the intention of taking something from you without having given anything before. They haven’t thought about reciprocation the favor either.

Takers are not too worried asking for something directly. Somehow they are under a belief that if they need something, you will just give it to them even if you have no benefit out of it. They fail to understand the fallacy of the approach and why it does not work well. It might work well in the short term, but never in the long term.

Takers do not always have a bad intention. They miss the point of thinking from the other person’s shoes when they make an ask. They will never realize how does it look to you and me when we see a request ‘John has invited you to like his page John’s Photography.’

The Givers are of two kinds:

The giver who gives with an expectation of a return: These people are slightly better than the takers but not by a great margin. The examples are many

Helping your neighbor because you believe you will need their help someday.

Doing charity because you hope one day it will come back to you tenfold.

Strikingly similar is liking social media posts from your friends because you want them to return the favor.

Doing any of these things like helping your neighbor, charity or liking posts is not wrong at all. What is wrong is the reason why you do what you do. If you are doing charity because you like helping the poor, that’s great. Like the picture your friend posted because you loved it, not expecting a like in return. The purpose of the like button is to indicate you like the post. It does not say like this post and you will get a like back, does it?

When you give with an expectation of a return, you are not very different from a taker. I would suggest refraining from giving if you have a hidden expectation of return.

This brings us to the other type of giver.

The giver who gives for the joy of giving: The difference between the two types of givers is very subtle, but the difference in the mindset of the two is humongous. These are the people who give for the joy of giving and making the world a better place.

This does not mean you have to give away anything and everything for free. There is nothing wrong with building a business around it and charging for what you give. However, the primary reason why you give should not be for charging, but for the joy of giving.

Giving without any charity

As confusing as it sounds, this is true. Let me illustrate with a few examples

Steve Jobs was a giver because he wanted to give to the world better technology and advancement. Sure, it came with a lot of wealth. But Steve always thought about giving the best to mankind and the money was a by-product.

Sam Walton from Walmart wanted to give to the people the experience of low prices and great service. He wanted to make his customers feel good from the bottom of his heart and sure, he made a ton of money from it.

Anthony Robbins charges exorbitant fees for an hour of improvement consultation with him. Before he even started charging, he truly enjoyed the joy of helping people with their problems since his childhood. His joy for giving is what has granted him the privilege of charging that fee. He is capable of providing more than it’s worth in money.

All these examples are giving your best in terms of value with money being a byproduct. You must provide more in value than the money you receive using your customer service, innovation, delivery model, ease of use or any USP. Translation from value to money is not a straight forward translation. If your customers and you agree that what you provide in value is more than what you charge, you have got the equation right.

Simple ways of giving daily

Giving does not have to be complex either. You can give every single day in various ways.

The Uber ride that you just finished, uttering “Thank you,” along with a smile and a good rating will help the driver get more rides and make him happier.

Picking up and handing the plate to the waiter who comes to clear the table makes the waiter feel more respected

A thank you with a smile to the person at the billing counter of a gas station will cheer him up

The referral for an unknown person(even if the stranger was a taker) on LinkedIn

Helping a newcomer at work improve by training him on areas you are great at

Exercise:

Think of ways to start giving in value for no benefit in return. Make it a practice to start giving from now on. It is far easier than you think.

As an exercise recollect a normal day in your life from the time you wake up till the time you go to sleep. Identify 3 or more areas where you have an opportunity to give.

Starting tomorrow, you will start giving.

What do you feel about giving to the world? Leave a comment on what have you decided to give or if you decided not to give at all.

Conclusion:

Get the notion out of your head that giving only has to be in terms of charity, money or tangible assets. You have myriad possibilities of giving in other ways. Don’t make giving too complex. Keep it simple and you can keep giving to the world.

And yeah, nothing will come back to you because you gave to the world. If at all it does, it is because you are now a better person with a ton of people who are grateful to you. It will come back due to reciprocity. Even if it doesn’t, it should not impact you anymore because you are now a Giver.

Productive Club

The website exists to inspire, influence and infect people with positivity and help people begin their journey of chasing their dream goals. The target is to help 1 million people follow their dreams along with a full time job. Will you be one among them?

The website has been created to inspire, influence and infect people with positivity and help people begin their journey of chasing their dream goals. The target is to help 1 million people pursue their dream while having a full time job. Will you be one among them?